General information about the book
Cirque du freak was written by Darren Shan and is the first book of twelve in the 'Saga of Darren Shan'. Collins, which is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Limited, first published it in Great Britain in 2000. The recommended price is £3.99, which ... Read review
Darren Shan seems like your average boy--he likes playing football with his mates, ... more
passing notes in class and loves spiders. Then, one day, his best mate Steve gets tickets for a banned freak show and Darren starts experiencing things that no average ...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Darren Shan seems like your average boy--he likes playing football with his mates, ... more
passing notes in class and loves spiders. Then, one day, his best mate Steve gets tickets for a banned freak show and Darren starts experiencing things that no average ...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
fast paced and compelling full of satisfying macabre touches -- Cirque du Freak explores ... more
the powerful fascination of the dangerous and unnatural and also movingly the obligations of friendship' J. K. Rowling THE SAGA OF DARREN SHAN BOOK 1 Darren go...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Darren is just an average schoolboy - or was, at least - until he and his friend Steve buy ... more
tickets to the outlawed magical and macabre, Cirque du Freak. Packed with wonderfully grotesque characters - including a snake-boy, a wolf-man and, most exciting of all, an enormous performing spider - the boys are fascinated, and yet terrified by the show.
Advantages: very gripping storyline, appeals to all ages Disadvantages: seriously impossible to put down once you start reading it
...==
Cirque du freak was written by Darren Shan and is the first book of twelve in the 'Saga of Darren Shan'. Collins, which is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Limited, first published it in Great Britain in 2000. The recommended price is £3.99, which you will probably find to be the same (or approximately the same) in most major retailers.
== The basic storyline ==
Darren Shan is just an ordinary ... ...Cirque du Freak…until he meets Madam Octa…until he comes face to face with a creature of the night.
Soon, Darren and his friend Steve are caught in a deadly trap. Darren must make a bargain with the one person who can save Steve. But that person is not human and only deals in blood…
== The official introduction to the book ==
I've always been fascinated by spiders. I used to collect them when I was younger. ... more
General information about the book
Cirque du freak was written by Darren Shan and is the first book of twelve in the 'Saga of Darren Shan'. Collins, which is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Limited, first published it in Great Britain in 2000. The recommended price is £3.99, which you will probably find to be the same (or approximately the same) in most major retailers.
The basic storyline
Darren Shan is just an ordinary schoolboy - until he gets an invitation to visit the Cirque du Freak…until he meets Madam Octa…until he comes face to face with a creature of the night.
Soon, Darren and his friend Steve are caught in a deadly trap. Darren must make a bargain with the one person who can save Steve. But that person is not human and only deals in blood…
The official introduction to the book
I've always been fascinated by spiders. I used to collect them when I was younger. I'd spend hours rooting through the dusty old shed at the bottom of our garden, hunting the cobwebs for lurking eight-legged predators. When I found one, I'd bring it in and let it loose in my bedroom. It used to drive my mum mad! Usually, the spider would slip away after no more than a day or two, never to be seen again, but sometimes they hung around longer. I had one who made a cobweb above my bed and stood sentry for almost a month. Going to sleep, I used to imagine the spider creeping down, crawling in my mouth, sliding down my throat and laying loads of eggs in my belly. The baby spiders would hatch after a while and eat me alive, from the inside out. I loved being scared when I was little. When I was nine, my mum and dad gave me a small tarantula. It wasn't very poisonous or very big, but it was the greatest gift I'd ever received. I played with that spider almost every waking hour of the day. Gave it all sorts of treats: flies and cockroaches and tiny worms. Spoilt it rotten.
Then, one day, I did something stupid. I'd been watching a cartoon in which one of the characters was sucked up in a vacuum cleaner. No harm came to him. He squeezed out of the bag, dusty and dirty and mad as hell. It was very funny. So funny, I tried it myself. With the tarantula. Needless to say, things didn't happen quite like they did in the cartoon. The spider was ripped to pieces. I cried a lot, but it was too late for tears. My pet was dead, it was my fault, and there was nothing I could do about it. My parents nearly hollered the roof down when they found out what I'd done - the tarantula had cost quite a bit of money. They said I was an irresponsible fool, and from that day on they never again let me have a pet, not even an ordinary garden spider.
I started with that tale from the past for two reasons. One will become obvious as this book unfolds. The other reason is: This is a true story. I don't expect you to believe me - I wouldn't believe it myself if I hadn't lived it - but it is. Everything in this book happened, just as I tell it. The thing about real life is, when you do something stupid, it normally costs you. In books, the heroes can make as many mistakes as they like. It doesn't matter what they do, because everything comes good at the end. They'll beat the bad guys and put things right and everything ends up hunky-dory. In real life, vacuum cleaners kill spiders. If you cross a busy road without looking, you get whacked by a car. If you fall out of a tree, you break some bones. Real life's nasty. It's cruel. It doesn't care about heroes and happy endings and the way things should be. In real life, bad things happen. People die. Fights are lost. Evil often wins. I just wanted to make that clear before I began.
One more thing, my name isn't really Darren Shan. Everything's true in this book, except for names. I've had to change them because…well, by the time you get to the end, you'll understand. I haven't used any real names, not mine, my sister's, my friends or teachers. Nobody's. I'm not even going to tell you the name of my town or country. I daren't. Anyway, that's enough of an introduction. If you're ready, lets begin. If this was a made-up story, it would begin at night, with a storm blowing and owls hooting and rattling noises under the bed. But this is a real story, so I have to begin where it really started. It started in a toilet.
Cover design
The cover design for this book was by Tim Byrne and it consists of: a skull 'logo' that is found at the top of every 'Saga of Darren Shan' book; the obvious things (Darren Shan's name and the name of the book - Cirque du Freak); and a picture of a red spider crawling along a red web. This is suitable to the book because the storyline is mainly about spiders and also the picture is quite freaky which is suitable because of the title of the book 'Cirque du Freak' and the picture of the freaky spider. Also, each book in this series has a 'slogan' or little message that describes the book by giving a tiny insight into it, which then makes you want to read the book. In this case it is 'a living nightmare'.
My personal opinion
My personal opinion about Cirque du Freak is that it is certainly one of the best books I have ever read. The storyline is so gripping that it keeps you hooked, once you start reading it is physically impossible to put the book down! The one, and only, disappointment for me about this saga was the fact that whilst in the middle of reading Cirque du Freak, the first book of twelve, one of my friends told me what happened in the end of the twelfth book. So all the way through reading the saga I knew what was going to happen at the end, which makes you think 'what's the point of reading this if I know what happens at the end'. But even knowing that didn't stop me reading the book because like I said it is impossible to put it down and I massively enjoyed this book, it is a brilliant start to a brilliant series. The reason I told you about what happened to me is because I may be writing reviews on some, if not all, of the later books of this series so I would advise against reading the reviews until you have read the books because this may ruin it for you. But I'm not going to tell you any more, you'll have to find that out yourself! But I will say, if you don't read this book, you are missing out on a hell of a lot!
Advantages: great story, well thought out plot, grips you from start to finish Disadvantages: nothing
Darren Shan in cirque du freak writes himself as the main character of the story. The Darren Shan saga has over ten books that all follow the same boy and all follow each other. Cirque du freak is the first of these books and inroduces you to the characters and the story.
Basic outline of the book
The basic story of cirque du freak revovles around a boy called Darren. Darren is pretty normal guy, he is nothing out of the ordinary except for a wierd ... ...a pair of tickets to cirque du freak. Cirque du freak is a circus with freaks in. So there are things like wolf-man, a boy that has snake skin and aman with two bellies for example. But the thing with Cirque du frreak is that all of the performers are real. By real I mean they actually are what they say they are. So wolf man is half wolf and half man.
One of the acts, Mr Crepsley and his performing spider. Is recognized by Steve. Steve recognizes ...
09jbooth 24.06.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Cirque Du Freak - Darren Shan
Advantages: Excellent and easy read Disadvantages: Very short books
...square one...Anyway enough ranting.
Cirque du Freak is the first in the Darren Shan saga, as well as being the main character in the book this is also the title the author uses for himself when writing. I guess it makes it easier on him. Anyway these books are to me an inspiration, after having read most of the Anne Rice vampire chronicles I struggled to find anything to renew my interest in Vampire reading, or the occult in general. That was until ... ...to me when I was about 14 and recently I've been buying them, just had to read them again. The Shan books are very different to the Rice ones, obviously they are targeted at completely different age groups, Anne Rice being for adults and Shan aimed at 12-16 year olds in my opinion, not that this fact is stopping me from re-reading them.
The book itself takes us on the beginning of the life of Darren Shan, a normal boy who loves to play football, ...
vampiresthirst 01.06.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Cirque Du Freak - Darren Shan
...me, some do not. But Cirque Du Freak literally pulled me right into the story. I couldn't let go, i couldn't put it down, I couldn't stop reading. This book is the first in a series of 12 called the Saga of Darren Shan, featuring the actual author as the main charecter. It tells the life of a normal teenager who becomes a vampire. But it's not what you'd expect from a vampire. You'll have to read it to find out more on that. The story is very cleverly ... ...the correct order):
Cirque Du Freak
The Vampires Assistant
Tunnels of Blood
Vampire Mountain
Trials of Death
The Vampire Prince
Hunters of the Dusk
Allies of the Night
Killers of the Dawn
The Lake of Souls
Lord of the Shadows
Sons of Destiny
There are 12 books in total ...
matty0501 18.08.2007 (26.09.2007)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Cirque Du Freak - Darren Shan
Advantages: easy to get into. great storyline. great characters. Disadvantages: none!
first read this book a few years ago when I was about 14 maybe but also my mum has read this book so it appeals to anyone of any age! it has a very unique storyline and a great interpretation of vampires. it is such a great read. I never used to like to read but the I started reading this series on an off chance and I was hooked I literally read this book walking around my house lol! I devoured all 12 books in no time at all! I even caught up with ... ...books lol! the story itself is very dynamic but not so much that it is unrealistic.The characters are very diverse and you become attached to each and everyone even if you don't like them to start with they grow on you. there are also so many twists and turns that you really don't expect! so it keeps you on your toes. also look out for the bread crumbs if you intend to read more of the books. another great thing about this series is you can just ...
ellynora 18.05.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Cirque Du Freak - Darren Shan
Advantages: Brilliant read, un-shutable Disadvantages: You can't sleep for reading
I do not read that many books, and the books I do read tend to be about fast cars and big engines. But Darren Shan and his amazing writing skills changed the way I viewed reading forever!
My aunt bought me the first Darren Shan Trilogy for my birthday and to be honest I thought it was just going to be a lame version of "Goosebumps" which I remember reading when I was about eight years old thinking I was cool, then not being able to sleep!
So, I ... ...was gripping! I was only going to read the first couple of chapters but I couldn't, the book had almost hypnotised me, page after page turned and I must have read for around 5 hours before my eyes finally shut!
It was like this all the time, once you opened the book, you couldn't shut it. This is the same throughout every book in the series (I have read them all now).
The plot has been brilliantly written in each and every book and has twists and ...
2345876 14.07.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Cirque Du Freak - Darren Shan
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Reviews which might be of interest for "Cirque Du Freak - Darren Shan"
Advantages: Marvellous storyline, gripping and thrilling Disadvantages: Could of been better descriptions
DarrenShan, the Vampire's Assistant, has to leave the CirqueDuFreak with the snake-boy Evra and Mr Crepsley. Darren befriends a girl named Debbie, but little do they both know about what fate has in store. At night the vampire (Mr Crepsley) goes about secret business, while Darren and Evra become more and more suspicious about his whereabouts.
"But then bodies are discovered...
Corpses of drained blood... The hunt for the killer is on and Darren's loyalties are tested to the limit as he fears the worst. One mistake and they are all doomed to perish in the tunnels of blood..."
This book is the third in the Saga of DarrenShan. I have only read the first and the third, but one day I would like to of read them all:
CirqueDuFreak - tremendous book
The Vampire's Assistant
Tunnels of Blood - the one I am reviewing
Vampire ...
Advantages: anyone of any age can enjoy, gripping storyline Disadvantages: really difficult to put the book down
General introduction to the book
The vampire's assistant. Part two of the amazing 'Saga of DarrenShan', and the sequel to the excellent 'CirqueduFreak', as the front cover tells us - "Cirquedufreak - the nightmare continues..." As we know, this 'nightmare' is what Darren's life is turning into, as at the end of the first book we see Darren having to become a half-vampire as Mr Crepsley's assistant in order to save his best friend Steve Leonard (or as Darren calls him Steve Leopard). He also has to fake his death because he realises he can no longer live a normal human life with the vampiric blood running through his veins.
The official introduction at the beginning of the book
My name's DarrenShan. I'm a half vampire.
I wasn't born that way. I used to be ordinary. I lived at home with my parents and younger sister ...
Advantages: Everything possible from a literature perspective Disadvantages: Yellow is not my favourite colour lol
now, by visiting www.DarrenShan.com and then clicking on the link to his myspace. Now after having read the Vampire books by ShanCirqueduFreak and so on I did not want to know who he blooming was but as it was right there on the website curiosity overpowered me and I fell prey to the link. What I saw did dissilusion me a bit, yes he is just a regular guy, he is not DarrenShan the vampire and everything he says is true he's only changed the names of the people to stop his whereabouts being revealed. He is simply an average guy with ALOT of myspace friends. Although I knew never to believe the Fictional tales of Shan part of your imagination always says to you what if and this is just another example of reality hitting me in the face and me not liking how mundane everything is becoming lol.
Cast:
Grubbs Grady-Main character in ...
Product Information for "Cirque Du Freak - Darren Shan" »
Product details
Author
Darren Shan
Title
Cirque Du Freak
Genre
Thriller, Children
Type
Fiction, Audio Book
ISBN
0006754163, 7214154
EAN
9780006754169
Publisher
Collins Audio
All Authors
Darren Shan, Rupert Degas
Manufacturer's product description
The first part of the chilling Saga of Darren Shan, the ordinary schoolboy plunged into the vampire world. THE SAGA OF DARREN SHAN BOOK 1 Darren goes to a banned freak show with his best mate Steve. It's the wonderfully gothic Cirque Du Freak where
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